partisanship is also, jeff, locking them into a fight over senator hagel, chuck hagel, the president's nominee for the secretary of defense. the republicans have effectively filibustered him. what is going on here? >> what is really going to is a relitigation of what happens when a member of a party speaks out against his own party. of course, we're talking about the iraq war. chuck hagel, former republican senator from nebraska, was asking the sharpest, hardest questions about the iraq war, throughout its duration and he, classed with his old friend, john mccain, and he's paying a price. at the end of the day, he'll probably be confirmed but he has to wait another -- until the week after next to when the senators return to washington to see if he can be confirmed so i think it's an embarrassment to the president. that's what they were trying to do in some case. but enough republicans have said that they're going to vote for him ultimately but you have to wonder, is this really going to weaken senator hagel as a possible defense secretary. all the defense ministers from around the worl